Limberlost State Historic Site [IN]

Description

The Limberlost State Historic Site interprets one of the homes of author, photographer, naturalist, and illustrator Gene Stratton-Porter (1863-1924). Topics covered include Stratton-Porter's life, her writings, and the swamp surrounding Limberlost. The Limberlost swamp stretches over 13,000 acres, and was known circa 1900 for its multitude of dangers—natural and human. The residence itself is an 1895 Queen Anne cabin. Today, the interior holds Victorian and Arts and Crafts period rooms. Stratton-Porter was the author of numerous popular novels and nature books, including Freckles and A Girl of the Limberlost.

The site offers period rooms, guided house tours, and hiking trails. Group tours, school tours, outreach programs, and educational materials for rental are all available with advance notice. The website offers a list of state educational standards relevant to the site.

Walnut Creek Historical Society and Shadelands Ranch Historical Museum [CA]

Description

The Walnut Creek Historical Society seeks to preserve and share the history of Walnut Creek, California. To this end, the society operates the Shadelands Ranch Historical Museum, located within a 1903 residence. The museum presents topics relevant to local history.

The museum offer exhibits, tours, archival access, and a living history program for third grade students. Reservations are required for groups of 10 or more.

Charlotte Hawkins Brown Museum [NC]

Description

Founded in 1902 by Dr. Charlotte Hawkins Brown, Palmer Memorial Institute transformed the lives of more than 2,000 African-American students. Today, the campus provides the setting where visitors can explore this unique environment where boys and girls lived and learned during the greater part of the 20th century. The museum links Dr. Brown and Palmer Memorial Institute to the larger themes of African-American history, women's history, social history, and education, emphasizing the contributions African Americans made in North Carolina.

The site offers a short film, exhibits, tours, lectures, and occasional recreational and educational events (including living history events).

Seabrook Historic Schoolhouse [MD]

Description

The Seabrook Schoolhouse was built in 1896 by the residents of the Seabrook community and provided education for grades one through eight until the early 1950s. This one-room schoolhouse is one of the few surviving one-room schoolhouses in Prince George's County. The building is unique in that it was built to resemble the Victorian Gothic architectural style of the cottages that were originally built in the community. The schoolhouse has been restored and continues its legacy of education. It is open for tours by appointment and features a multifaceted, overall program that includes interpretive exhibits and artifacts and programs.

The schoolhouse offers exhibits, tours, and educational programs.

Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum [MA]

Description

The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum presents 30 centuries of decorative arts, paintings, sculptures, tapestries, furniture, and other works of art. Collections include more than 2,500 works; and particular strengths include Italian Renaissance paintings and works by James McNeill Whistler and John Singer Sargent. Other artists represented include Titian, Rembrandt, Michelangelo, Raphael, Botticelli, Manet, and Degas. The museum also supports modern art, music, and scholarship.

The museum offers exhibits, lectures, educational programs, self-guided tours, thematic guided tours for students, and audio tours. Reservations are required for school tours. The website offers partial collection listings with images, virtual exhibits, podcasts, audio files of classical music, and inspiration for ways to include the museum in classroom curricula.

The Yellow Room and Macknight Room are currently closed for preservation.

Sonoma County Museum [CA]

Description

The Sonoma County Museum presents the 19th- and 20th-century history of Sonoma County, California; and provides a location for community gatherings. The museum is housed within the 1909 Renaissance Revival Santa Rosa Post Office and Federal Building, among the first 12 federally erected buildings in California. The museum collection consists of nearly 25,000 artifacts, including contemporary artworks.

The museum offers exhibits, 45-minute guided tours, 45- to 60-minute educational outreach programs, outreach slide presentations of past exhibits, and activities. The activities are intended for classroom use. Two weeks notice is required for school tours. The website offers more than 10 teacher's guides.

Scottsdale Historical Museum [AZ]

Description

The Scottsdale Historical Museum is dedicated to recounting the history of Scottsdale, Arizona. Their permanent collection contains items from the Scott family, the founders of the town. Temporary exhibits include late 19th century transportation items and other items from the time of Scottsdale’s founding (1888).

Tours are docent-led and admission is free. Educational programs and school tours aren't offered so the teacher will have to arrange plans with the museum to meet his/her students' needs.

Pioneer Living History Village [AZ]

Description

The Pioneer Living History Village is a 90-acre living history 1800s town. Structures are either period or reproductions based on historical research. Sights include an opera house in which Lilly Langtry (1853-1929), famed English actress and beauty, once sang; the childhood home of Henry Fountain Ashurst (1874-1962), one of the first Senators of Arizona; and a circa 1880 cabin which survived an Apache raid.

The museum offers period rooms, demonstrations, living history interpreters, and re-enactments. The museum is closed on rainy days.

Forest History Center [MN]

Description

The Forest History Center is a recreated circa 1900 logging camp, containing the camp itself, an exhibit area, a 1901 floating shack or "wanigan" used to transport logs and men to the mills, forest trails, and a 1930s Minnesota Forest Service patrolman's cabin and lookout tower. The time period portrayed at the site was the peak of white pine logging in the state of Minnesota. Exhibit highlights include a life-sized hollow "log" through which visitors can crawl, a children's corner, items made from local wood, and displays on forest conservation.

The center offers interactive exhibits on both the human and natural history of Minnesotan forests, films on forest fires and oral histories, living history interpreters, one-hour guided tours, self-guided tours, curriculum-based school tours, a picnic site, and vending machines. Wheelchairs are available for use on site, and reservations can be made for sign language interpreters. The center suggests using or bringing insect repellent. The website offers historical photographs.